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Mina's POV
Lucy and I are out shopping for some girl time and it is much needed after all that has happened. Michael attempting to kill himself rather than face all of the terrible acts he has done is something he would do as a final act of sorts. Thankfully it is not his final act; he will be paying for what he has done when he is out of the hospital into prison.
I was in shock when I received his suicide text. However it was not the shock most would have when seeing a message like that. I was more grateful, relief shock that I was free of him. But my heart sank when it was said he was alive, in urgent care on the news. I am a horrible person for being grateful that he was no longer here to torment me in the short time I thought he was dead.
Then again, death would be too kind after all he has done. Now he can pay for it in his remaining days. It cemented him further into madness as far as the public can now see. Many of my old so called friends that didn't believe me about Michael has contacted me, apologizing for all they said to me. The only person who has not called to apologize is my mother.
She only called, worrying about him and if I even went to see and care for him. I hung up on her when her words came through my phone. I haven't spoken to her since that phone call. There is no wrong that Michael can do in her eyes, no matter what. I am not sure if it is such false hope or just insanity to make her like this.
Suddenly a set of fingers snaps very close to my face. It is Lucy snapping me back to earth as we are shopping. Lucy chuckles in my reaction as she is wearing a dress she wanted to try on. I am stunned in how gorgeous it looks on her. I could never wear a gown like she is wearing. The dress is elegant and yet dramatic with her simple silver metallic bracelets. This gown would almost be used for a vampire costume if it wasn't a thigh-cut design.
"What do you think, Mina?"
"I like it." I tell her in full honesty.
She spins around to show off the dress. It fits perfectly for her body, high waisted, fastened with a concealed zipper at the back. A back slit to ensure comfort movement and freely enjoy the spectacular flow of the sleeves. It has a deep sweetheart neckline and corseted bodice gracefully accentuate the bust. The oversized, dramatic sleeves are attached to the bodice and secured with a button at the back. It creates a cape-effect at the shoulders.
It almost has a seductive dimension to the beautiful, elegant midi dress. I believe the design is by Alieva. Lucy is very particular to what sort of designers she follows. And I understand that when shopping with her. She smiles and tells the salesperson that she will take one in black and in red. I chuckle in the fun I am having. I have not been shopping in what feels like ages.
"Is there anything that caught your attention in here?"
I hesitate to answer but shake my head no. Lucy looks at me wondering why I answered the way I did. She sits down next to me and grabs my hand. "What is it, Mina? I know something is on your mind. You can tell me, between us girls."
I exhale knowing I am no good in hiding my emotions no matter what kind of fun I am having. "Before Michael, I loved the color red since I was a child. It symbolized energy, passion, and warmth. I liked the color red to the point that red roses were my favorite. Michael knew this and showered me in things red. He used to call me, Mina's Red whenever he gave me a gift. But when the abuse started, it just became a bad reminder. Then after leaving him, he would continue to shower me with gifts that had nothing but red. Now red is just... It is just a..."
I couldn't finish my sentence in the thought of seeing nothing but red. "Now red in general is just a terrible reminder of him..." Lucy whispers, finishing my own thoughts before I could. I shake my head yes to her.
She presses her lips together, rubbing her left hand up and down my back. I attempt to contain the tears trying to fill my eyes but it does not work. I wipe the tears away, taking deep breathes. Lucy then looks around at the store until something catches her attention. She stands to her feet and walks over to what caught her eye.
"The color red also means strength, health, courage, and security. Even in Christianity, red means the Blood of Christ. Do you know Ephesians 1:7, Mina?" Lucy tells me with a sense of the woman power speech that I need to hear.
'In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.' Ephesians 1:7
I say the bible verse out loud and Lucy gives a smile saying, "Exactly."
She pulls out a red gown that takes my breath away when seeing it. I stand to my feet when Lucy walks over with the gown hanging across her arms. I brush my fingers on the beautiful gown. She takes me into the dressing room and closes the door behind us. She tells me to try it on. I know I cannot say no to this dress or to Lucy.
I get out of my clothes then slip into the dress with my back turned away from the mirror. Lucy zips up the back of the dress and tells me not to move. I cannot help but to smell the dress. Somehow in some strange way it smells expensive. The dress fits like a glove on me, almost like it was meant for me.
Lucy takes the hair clip out of my hair. She runs her fingers through my barely shoulder length blonde hair. I feel like a completely different person in having longer hair than I use to have due to Michael. I can finally let my hair grow out since I no longer to have to my hair short to try to show my bruises that Michael use to give me.
She finishes my hair then grabs a lipstick from her purse and puts some on my lips. I wonder why she is doing what she is doing but I do not question her. She tells me to close my eyes and to take her hand. I do so and she leads me out to the mirror area. She tells me to open my eyes. I do so and she turns me around to see myself in the mirror.
I stare at myself in the mirror in shock. I hardly even recognize myself in the image before me that these two words slip out of my mouth, "Holy shit..."
"Careful, sweetheart, don't hurt yourself." Lucy says laughing in my reaction.
The red dress is a spectacular fit, with a low back to make it super sexy and the knee length pencil cut creates gorgeous curves I never knew I had until seeing my body in this dress. It has short sleeves on with a small hint of a sweetheart neckline. It sculpts my body figure like nothing else. This dress screams all eyes on me.
I smile in seeing my blonde hair hanging past my ears and the red lipstick complimenting my fair white skin tone. Lucy remains smiling behind me in how I am really looking at myself in the mirror. I turn around to Lucy when she asks me, "Well, are you saying yes to this red dress, Mina?"
"Yes!" I shake my head in excitement. There is no way I could ever say no to this dress and it is a stepping stone into looking ahead rather than behind. Lucy tells the salesperson to bring pairs of nude high heels and she will pay for it.
"No, it's too much." I turn to face her.
"Mina, I have more than enough money to spend due to the other cases I have won. I want some of the money I have to go to someone good. And you are plus this dress was made for you. You should definitely where it for the Feast of St. Andrew." Lucy assures me.
"Lucy, I don't think I can."
"Mina..." She turns me to face the mirror. "Life is a party, dress like it. Plus I will not take no for an answer. This dress is yours no matter what."
I exhale knowing I am not going to win against her. I smile in how amazing she is and tell her that I will only accept these as gifts and I expect nothing else from her in future time. She agrees when the workers bring in a few pairs of nude high heels. I try on a few pairs however there is only one pair that went well with the dress.
It is a classic platform pump with a toe twist, sleek dress heel with a hint of sophistication with the red dress. It fits just as perfectly as the dress did. I smile at the look of the dress and heels together. I feel almost bright and new right now. I actually feel good.
Lucy and I finish shopping while she pays for everything. We walk out of the store wearing our new dresses and heels. We walk down the streets and as expected, all eyes are on us. Lucy and I smile the entire way back to her car.
She has a dark red Ferrari 2014 model. I am admiring the design of this Ferrari. I do not recognize exactly where it was made. Lucy and I jump in the car, putting our shopping bags in the back seats. She brings the engine to life and it almost sounds like the purring sound of a cat. I really like her car. She turns on her radio with the song, Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. She and I begin to sing with the lyrics of the song when she drives off.
Lucy drives down to a cute little restaurant that Lucy wants to show me. It is one of her favorite places and I know this place through recipes at work. The food column has published some of their food works. The restaurant is Chocolat Ateneu – Boutique Restaurant.
Lucy already has a reservation for us that we sit at an outside table. We both sit down and she orders a few desserts and two glasses of wine for us. I look around in the beautiful day happening even with the cloudy sky. I was in so much need of this. I exhale in almost feeling free of everything that has happened earlier this month.
"I am happy to see you smiling, enjoying yourself."
"Thank you, Lucy."
A waiter comes out to hand us glasses of wine. She has red and I have white. We both lightly tap on our wine glasses. I drink a little of the wine. Lucy has a sip of the wine when I notice her ring. It was quite beautiful and different from other rings I have seen. I can already tell that it has great meaning to her.
"That is beautiful; your ring. Where did you get it?" I ask her.
"It belonged to my mother. Vlad was actually able to track it down. I never thought I was going to see it again." She stares at it and I can tell right away that she and Vlad have quite a bit of history as I expected them to have.
"Lucy, it is none of my business to ask this since I believe it is in the past however I want to ask all the same."
"Ask away."
"How long ago has it been since you and Vlad were together?"
She leans back in her seat, not surprised I am asking her this. She takes another sip of her wine then leans forward to be a bit closer to me. "I'll admit that in the past I have been a nasty just like Vlad. Vlad and I got together when in need of someone, just to forget things, not to be alone. Almost like Friends with Benefits but not as often. It has been years since we hooked up. He has a new life as do I. I'm impressed that you were able to pick it up between us. It feels like it was the 19th century when we last hooked up, a different lifetime."
I can tell that she is telling the full truth, not dodging the truth, straight on with it. I had a hunch that is what it was between them however I want to be safer than sorry since I care deeply for Vlad and want to make sure that there is nothing recent between them.
"Thank you for your honesty, Lucy. I wanted to make sure."
"I understand and you have nothing to worry about, Mina. You have my word."
I nod my head yes to her and wanted to ask her one more question. "There is one more thing I wanted to ask you about. Who is Mirena?"
Lucy bites the bottom of her lip when questioned this. "You truly are a smart one. You caught that when we first met however that is not my business to tell."
"Can you tell me what she was like? What did she mean to Vlad? That is all I want to know. The rest I will leave to Vlad when he is ready." I say in full honesty.
The waiter brings out our desserts and sets them down on the table. Lucy waits for the waiter to leave then looks me directly in the eye ready to answer my questions. I do not look away when she tells me these things.
"I never met her myself. I only saw an image of her once. She was beautiful, a lot like you in that area. A hard face to forget, I could tell right away that she was kind, selfless, cared deeply for anyone that held a place in her heart. I had a hard time believing Vlad would find someone else after her. I didn't think that some things could matter again for him however I look at things in an unrealistic manner due to my growing up. But then I saw how Vlad gazes and talks about you. The way you two are together proves that things can matter again."
I remain looking at Lucy in her words. I was not expecting her to say that at all. I was expecting an evil ex of some sort like Michael is to me. But I was wrong to suspect that about this woman, Mirena. Lucy talks about her like she is no longer alive. However I hope Vlad will be able to tell me all about Mirena when he is completely ready.
Lucy and I move onto the subject of Feast of St. Andrew. Lucy will be coming over to help with some of the cooking as will Luke. I am excited to be around people that are good however Vlad wants me to invite my mother to the dinner. I do not want to due to how she is with Michael. I do not even want to imagine how she will react in learning that I am with Vlad, another man.
"Lucy, I am having some trouble in deciding if I should invite my mother over for the Feast. Everything inside me is screaming not to ever speak to her again."
"But you have an urge to invite her since she is your mother. You only get one birth mother. If I had to do it all over again, I would try to make it work with my mother. I cannot though. You still can. I do advise the right people around you when she is there." Lucy says before taking a bite of the strawberry dessert.
"I believe you, Luke and Vlad will be more than enough if she is to come."
Lucy smiles to me then raises her glass to me. We lightly tap our wine glasses together again and finish up the desserts. When we are done, we head to her Ferrari. I am about to get into the front seat when she tosses her car keys to me. I manage to catch them. I wonder why she threw them to me until I see the look on her face.
I do not bother to hesitate to get into the driver's seat. She gets in; ready to see how I can handle her car. I bring the engine to life with possibly the biggest grin on my face. Before Lucy could say anything, I immediately drive off at a fast speed. Lucy is laughing in joy as I am driving down the street the way I am.
"Yes! Go, Mina! Go! Faster!" She extends her arms out in the air in excitement.
I do not hesitate to do so but not enough to bring attention to any cops we may pass by. There is about to be a red light however I step on the gas pedal, going faster. The Ferrari goes right through as the light turned red. Lucy and I give out a scream when running a red light in excitement. I keep switching between lanes to stay at the speed I am until we get closer to my apartment building.
Lucy warns me to start slowing down however I smile in the knowledge of what I am about to do. I immediately turn the wheel, making a sharp turn. Lucy lets out a scream as the car drifts into an empty parking spot in front of my apartment building. The car comes to a complete stop while the engine lets out a sort of roar when coming to the stop.
Lucy stares around in what just happened then right to me. "Mina, you truly are more than I could ever expect. Where did you learn how to drive?"
I put her car in park then tell her, "My father taught me how to drive. It was our thing growing up."
"I would love to see how he drives then." Lucy says to me in joy.
Lucy's POV
I don't say anything further when the look on her face seems like her father is no longer alive. I do not bother her with the subject and we both get out of the car. She exhales when grabbing her shopping bags. Then we both stand face to face with each other.
"We need to do this again real soon. This was much needed for both of us. I adore you like crazy. Have a good rest of your day." I hug Mina with a small smile on my face. Mina hugs me back.
I begin to hear the sound of her heartbeat and pulse. It appears to be getting louder and stronger as long as I remain close to her. I slowly pull away to remain my composure. I wave her goodbye then drive off when she turns around to get to the apartment building door. I speed the entire way back to my loft apartment.
I park then check to see if I am clear to use my power. When I knew I was clear, I instantly turn into a swarm of bats, getting into my loft through the bedroom window. I fly into the kitchen, transforming back into my body and go for my secret stash blood vault built inside the wall. I put in the code to open the large safe. Inside the safe is a built in blood warmer. I reach for one of the blood bags, about to rip off the top until I see the wine glass filled with the blood of the wolf I was with a few weeks ago.
I set the blood bag down and go for the glass. I immediately drink his blood but slowly to enjoy it. I set the glass down feeling my hunger settle by only drinking half of the blood. I have had many types of blood however I never reacted this way so suddenly to blood. I wonder if it is because of the wolf cell type. I never had any kind of wolves' blood before until that night with him.
I look at the rest of the glass wondering if I should call Vlad to get this blood tested out. Although I cannot with how the blood is almost singing to me. My heightened hearing makes me lean my head back, having goose bumps all over my body in the song of the blood. I close my eyes in bringing the glass to my lips, drinking every last drop as if it is the last bit of blood on the earth.
When I finish, I set the glass down still hearing the song of the blood course through my body. I smile in feeling good, thinking about the wolf, Kiral. I go over to my bed and lie down. I brush my fingers on my lip thinking about the entire night with the wolf. His lips against mine, his warm body, feeling him inside, how he treated me like a woman rather than just a piece of ass or a vampire wanting blood.
I would like to see him again if I can. I will even wish for him to come back to me. I wonder where things would go between us if he was allowed to do so. Sadly any wolf within the Order is not allowed to take a mate, have children or lands of their own. It would take away their devotion to the Order. Nothing else comes before the missions that are given by the Order.
I know that anyone who has ever tried to leave the Order ended up in a body bag or disappeared like they never existed in the first place. I wouldn't want that to happen to a man like Kiral. I remain in my thoughts about Kiral and the day spent with Mina. It has been really good.
Mina's POV
Vlad and I talk on the phone about the day we had. Vlad sends me some videos of his lessons or the horses in the turnout paddocks. I smile in how gorgeous his horses are. He is looking into buying a horse, working to build up the value of the horse. I like how he rescues horses that were tossed out when others were done with them. Vlad helps them stand back up, showing the world that they are not finished, more to offer to the world.
I lay down on my bed smiling as Vlad enjoys that Lucy and I had a great time together. I look over to my bible verse, 1 Corinithians 13. I realize the words in the bible verse are exact what Vlad is. I press my lips together, diving deep into each word of the bible verses with the time spent with Vlad.
'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.'
"Vlad, are we boyfriend and girlfriend? Exclusive?" It comes out, before I could even stop from asking those two questions.
Vlad is silent for a moment and I already feel it in my bones that I possibly ruined it for us by asking this too soon. I am about to speak but I hear his amazing voice say these words.
"Yes, Mina. We are boyfriend and girlfriend. Exclusive." He says and I don't have to see him to know that he is smiling right now.
I giggle in joy that he said the words. I already feared that he was not wanting more especially with what Lucy told me about Mirena. But I worried for nothing. I lean up, placing my hand on my bible resting on the nightstand next to the bed. We both chuckle in joy that we are official. It seems so silly to make it official like we are in grade 12. We are happy like young teenagers to make it official.
However there is one thing I needed to ask him about. I exhale and ask him, "Vlad, a part of me wants to invite my mother to Feast of Saint Andrews. Should I?"
"When was the last time you saw her?" He asks.
"A few months after we were engaged and the hitting started. I ask her what I should do and that is when I learned that she would rather have me endure the abuse then help me get away from him. She would always make up excuse after excuse for his actions. My own mother believed I was telling lies about the bruises he gave me. She constantly told me that it would pass and the love would return."
Vlad listens to everything I tell him about my mother in her reactions to all Michael has done. He does not interrupt me. When I finish telling him, he says to me, "I think that she needs to see how different things are for you without Michael in your life and if she truly loves you, she will see how happy you are, be accepting of it, and move ahead to the future. See if she will put the past where it belongs. Let's invite her for dinner. And if it does not go well, I will support you in whatever decision you make about your mother after that."
I give a small smile in his answers to me and it took me by surprise in his words, in a good way though. I tell him that I will send her the details of the dinner. He asks what her favorite flowers are and I tell him that she likes Petunia.
"Ah. That does explain a bit of her in flower choice alone. Despite its striking appearance, petunias are a symbol of deep dissatisfaction, resentment, and anger. If I recall correctly in literature, Harry Potter's Aunt, a woman described as being deeply resentful of her sister is called Petunia."
"That's right; definitely not a coincidence in J.K Rowling's choice." I nod my head in realization of that.
I lay back down on my bed and we talk for the remaining night about anything and everything like we always do. It gets to the point that I nearly fall asleep on the phone when talking to him. He manages to wake me up so I can properly get ready for bed. He laughs a bit in how sleepy I am after the day I had.
I change into a comfy shirt and shorts. I brush my hair out then brush my teeth. I go back over to my bed, putting my phone on the charger. I slip under the covers and Vlad knows how much better I would be by getting properly ready for bed than sleeping without changing out of the dress, brushing my teeth. It is no fun to wake up with terrible breath in the morning.
"Get good rest, my lady. You deserve it. I adore you and I will see you Sunday for Feast of St. Andrew. It is going to be amazing." He tells me with the sweetest voice I have ever heard in my life.
"You too, my prince and I cannot wait to see you. Especially your reaction to my new red dress; I adore you too. Sleep sweetly." I make a kiss sound to him and he does one back to me before we end our phone call.
I exhale in grinning. I feel so good and happy. I cannot remember the last time I felt like this. It has probably been almost a year since I felt like this. I cannot wait to see him again for the Feast. It will be fun to cook with him all of my favorite recipes. I just hope that my mother will not do what she always does and destroy everything with her mental heat vision.
I stop thinking about my mother and think about Vlad being all of the good things in the bible verses. I turn off the nightstand light and fall asleep with a small smile on my face in the good things going in my life. I close my eyes at the image of Vlad's enchanting smile when we first met at the flower stand.
